Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Mother's Obituary ...

Lottie Allen Charbonnet

1894 - 1995

You will be remembered as a single bright feather aimed heavenward-- on a pink silk hat ...three-inch heels on moire sandals with small red rose on toesas a single fragile butterfly in a windswept world of those too caught up to notice your need for touching and loving and caring -- and most of all --

for seeing your beauty.

Bereft of world views, books unread, causes unserved,your time on earth was spent in simple ways --ways suited to a temperament shaped by your motherlessbeginnings that brought no models for your own motheringbut instilled a deep appreciation for family in its broadest sense.The legacy of that love-filled cabin in St. James and your own dear Mama who nurtured her brood with enough intensity to last a lifetime.It is that larger family that will most miss your presence on this earth --family and friends of all ages -- many of whom stayed with you through a long life as a replacement for those lost ... until the end came ...

I will miss you deeply.as we came full circle during your long lifetime ...reversing roles until -- near the end when reality had become shadowed,you quite seriously introduced me to others as "mother."Perhaps I became the mother you couldn't remember, "Minette," returned.You invariably made the correction,but I sensed that no error had been made.In those final days you may have re-created her through me.

I honor you in death as I loved you in life.

Betty

Photo: Mother at the age of 95 participating in a luau in Hawaii. She lived to be 101.